2008 represented the start of a new online era for Koedoe, which provided us with a number of challenges and opportunities. The challenges lay in developing an entirely new publication and information dissemination system containing a number of new processes. The opportunities however, allowed us to build on Koedoes' 50 year publication history. The main opportunity for Koedoe lies in using the open access publication route, where all our articles are freely available via the World Wide Web. Further, all back issues of the journal will be available as PDF downloads by March 2009, additional special interest sections were added (for example, essays and book reviews) and the marketing strategy was expanded to reach a wider audience.

As a result, 20 manuscripts were published online in 2008 and we hope they provide for interesting and varied reading. Furthermore, we greatly appreciate the patience and support of the authors and readers during this time of refurbishment. Below, I have included some statistics for 2008, in order to show the progress that has been made by Koedoe in just one year.

From the humble beginnings of only 178 web visitors in January 2008, to 2293 visitors in November (the month with the highest records), the Koedoe website received a total of 12,602 unique visitors for the year. Web traffic was recorded from over 92 countries, with South Africa presenting the highest levels of activity (6.9 GB of information downloaded). Next was the United Kingdom (595 MB), Germany (415 MB), The Netherlands (400 MB) and Australia (266 MB), with a total 19.59 GB being downloaded.

To date, the most viewed articles from 2008 include. A checklist of the spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) of the Polokwane Nature Reserve, Limpopo Province, South Africa by Susan Dippenaar, Ansie Dippenaar-Schoeman, Mogadi Modiba and Thembile Khoza, which has been viewed 307 times; Fifty years of Koedoe: current status and future directions by Llewellyn Foxcroft, viewed 231 times; The recent fire history of the Table Mountain National Park, and implications for fire management by Brian van Wilgen and Greg Forsyth, viewed 220 times; Measurement of concentrations of Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites in free-ranging African Elephants within the Kruger National Park, by Jozua Viljoen, Andre Ganswindt, Rupert Palme, Hendrick Reynecke, Johan du Toit and William Langbauer Jr, viewed 213 times; and An assessment of the implementation and outcomes of recent changes to the fire management of the Kruger National Park, by Brian van Wilgen, Navashni Govender and Sandra MacFadyen, viewed 206 times. In total, the 20 articles published in 2008 were viewed 1577 times collectively.

Interestingly, the following articles from back issues uploaded during 2008 have also been extensively viewed. The effect of mature elephant bull introductions on ranging patterns of resident bulls: Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa (2006) by Heleen Druce, K Pretorius, D Druce and R Slotow, has been viewed 260 times; and A check list of the spiders of the Kruger National Park, South Africa (Arachnida: Araneae) (2003) by Anna Dippenaar-Schoeman and A. Leroy, has been viewed 258 times.

I hope that you will be as encouraged as I am by these figures, and ensure your support further, as either a contributing author or reader.